Denmark will be the first country to ban PFAS chemicals, which have been linked to cancer, elevated cholesterol and decreased fertility, from food packaging, starting next year. PFAS substances, which do not break down in the environment, are used to repel grease and water in packaging for fatty and moist foods such as burgers and cakes. "I do not want to accept the risk of harmful fluorinated substances (PFAS) migrating from the packaging and into our food. These substances represent such a health problem that we can no longer wait for the EU," Denmark's Food Minister Mogens Jensen said in a statement. PFAS chemicals are a family of potentially thousands of synthetic chemicals that are extremely persistent in the environment and in our bodies. Under Denmark's new regulation, baking paper and microwave popcorn bags, for example, will be required to be manufactured without any PFAS.
- CNN -